Move over Bob Dylan, Vince Bell is here...
D. Philipp
Move Over Bob Dylan, Make Room for Vince Bell
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By Dee Philipp Binggeli
September 1994
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Even if you've never heard of Vince Bell before, chances are you might
know some of the musicians who supported him on his recently released
debut album, Phoenix (Watermelon Records).
Bell's producer, for example, is Bob Neuwirth, who had worked with Bob
Dylan for nearly three decades and who put together the legendary Rolling
Thunder Review in the '70s. Neuwirth--who also produced and worked with
Janis Joplin (he wrote "Mercedes Benz" for her), The Doors, Kris
Kristofferson and T Bone Burnett--collaborated with ex-Velvet
Underground's John Cale in 1993 to record "Last Day On Earth," a
theatrical song-cycle which has been getting rave reviews in the
alternative music oriented publications.
Other musicians supporting Bell on "Phoenix" include:
Lyle Lovett, today's most urbanized country singer and an occasional
actor;
Bill Rich, a former bass player with the Jimi Hendrix Experience;
Victoria Williams, a singer/songwriter who has just released her new
album "Loose" and is getting ready to release two more albums within
the year. In recent years, her songs have been performed by such artists
as Lou Reed, Pearl Jam and Soul Asylum;
Mickey Raphael, harmonica, who currently plays and tours with Willie
Nelson;
David Mansfield, violin, who toured with Bob Dylan in the Rolling Thunder
Review and who worked with Bruce Hornsby and The Range on the first
three releases;
John Cale, multi-instrumentalist, ex-Velvet Underground and a
much-demanded producer and studio musician for all kinds of projects
with all kinds of artists.
Bell, speaking from his home in Fredericksburg, Texas, says he has been
living a fairly anonymous life so far. Although he used to play and hang
out with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson, Bell says "Phoenix" and its
cast strike him as rather "dreamy."
"Bob Neuwirth began producing Phoenix early on in the project and I asked
him to decide the players and the songs. And so I gave him a Complete
Works of mine and said, 'Choose the songs. Choose the players. I'm going
to come in and sing my best for you and play my best for you, but I expect
you to tell me what it is you want.'"
What Neuwirth wanted, and what the players--including Bell--did, was
record an incredibly acoustic sounding album within four 8-hour days.
"Four days, eight hours a day, twelve o'clock in the afternoon to eight
o'clock at night. Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow and it was over. That's it. A
couple of the cuts on Phoenix are the basics. No mixes, no nothing. That's
just how it went on tape. Isn't that incredible? You see this is what
Neuwirth brought to the project. Neuwirth came in and said, 'I want you to
be able to play what you record for me. I want you to go out and play this
in the land and make people happy about it beacuse you can do your
recording.'"
To Bell, who nearly died 12 years ago when he was hit by a drunk driver,
this is quite an accomplishment. As a result of the accident, Bell spent
all of January 1983 in a coma. Bell says the doctors "kept me in a bathtub
of ice water so that my brain wouldn't like swell and turn me into a
vegetable."
"When I woke up from a coma in 1983, a month long, I mean, I had to
relearn how to walk and talk, play my guitar, sing my songs...I'm head
injured. Do you know what that means? When you're an amputee, they take
your arms and your legs. When you're head injured like me, they take your
thoughts and just about any damn thing else they want. The bulk of my last
12 years have been spent like I mentioned relearning how to walk and talk
and all that stuff. Now I'm doing extremely well, but head injury,
oh-my-gawd, that's a real double-edged sword. On the one hand a real
intense and excruciating tragedy but on the other hand a great teacher."
In the immediate future, Bell will be performing live for National Public
Radio's Mountain Stage in Charleston, West Virginia, on September 18. The
NPR appearance will be broadcast live on eight member stations on
September 18, and the recorded version will be aired throughout the
following week on about 120 more stations. A concert tour is on the way,
too, but the specifics yet have to be arranged, according to Mike Beck,
Bell's manager.
"It's rather dreamy. I've been at this damn thing for 20 years. You know
the life of a folk singer in Texas. I mean, you go and you play'em at the
grab-em-stab-em bars and you do the best as you can, but they pay you $40
a night and they shouted you out the door, you know, for the next act the
next night."
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Phoenix by Vince Bell
Produced by Bob Neuwirth
1994 Watermelon Records Inc.
P.O. Box 402088
Austin, Texas 78704
(512) 458-6275
"Phoenix" consists of 11 songs conveying Bell's songwriting skills and
pleasantly rough voice in a hard-to-classify style (made up of elements
from folk, blues and country). Listening to "Phoenix" for the first time,
you might wonder out loud, "Where are the drums and choir girls?" But once
you've caught on, you'll realize that it's all there.
Bell's songs tell of the experiences, hopes, fears and realizations that
linger within all of us. Bell's talent is to put those experiences into
his own words and dress them up in hauntingly melodious tunes that will
inhabit the nooks in your mind for days.
Knowing Bell's life story definitely sheds a little light on some of his
songs, but applying your own individual situations to his songs' scenarios
will remind you of your own life's precarious state.
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Dee Philipp Binggeli can be reached via e-mail at: dag...@aol.com
This story, or portions thereof, may be published in any electronic or
print publications as long as A) proper credit is given to the author, B)
no copyright will be placed onto the story unless permission has been
given by the author, and C) the author will be reimbursed if the
publication is for-profit or if the story, or portions thereof, will be
used for any commercial purpose.
In other words, those who wish to distribute this story for personal
gratification may do so free of charge as long as these provisions remain
attached to the document. Thank you.
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D. Philipp Binggeli
D i g i t a l T e c h n o l o g y I n t e r n t n l.
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500 West 1200 South Orem, UTAH 84058
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Phone: (801) 226-2984 Fax: (801) 221-9254
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SAY GOODBYE TO BOB DYLAN...AND HELLO TO VINCE BELL
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